Author Topic: 2009 Hackensack City Election  (Read 43752 times)

Offline regina

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Re: 2009 Hackensack City Election
« Reply #15 on: April 27, 2009, 08:45:59 PM »
Joe

Calm down. I simply said I read something on another forum - did not say which one - and you went off the deep end. And I suggested that just watching check out any political connections for him/herself. He/she has already stated their awareness of the power behind the council. I believe it's that person and more. Entitled to my opinion.

Relax. This isn't any other forum. And I did not state any of those things that your are referring to in your reply.

Offline Editor

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Re: 2009 Hackensack City Election
« Reply #16 on: April 27, 2009, 09:56:32 PM »
As for connecting the political dots - I can't go into the details here of what I read on another forum - but there appears to be a very strong political connection between this mayor & council and BCDO. Maybe you should check it out.

Peanut, you are clearly citing "another forum" in support of your position.  If you are not talking about NJ.com, what forum are you talking about?

Offline regina

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Re: 2009 Hackensack City Election
« Reply #17 on: April 27, 2009, 10:04:49 PM »
Why does it matter what other forum? I did not suggest that anyone read another forum. I suggested that they check out the connections for themselves. I did - it's public information - and that is all I will say on the subject. You seem kind of touchy about this, so I'll drop it. Please do the same

Offline Editor

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Re: 2009 Hackensack City Election
« Reply #18 on: April 27, 2009, 11:00:08 PM »
Not so fast peanut. You are casting aspersions about reputable people, elected officials though they may be.

In support of your charges, you cited an online forum.  If you were referring to NJ.com (and everyone knows it's a rumor mill) you should say so.  If there is another Hackensack forum, we'd all love to know about it. 

We'll leave it there.

« Last Edit: April 27, 2009, 11:03:58 PM by Editor »

Offline regina

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Re: 2009 Hackensack City Election
« Reply #19 on: April 27, 2009, 11:09:10 PM »
If "political connections" is "casting aspersions", so be it. Didn't say anything that isn't true. And didn't say it was a Hackensack forum. You read too much into things.

Offline Hack72

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Re: 2009 Hackensack City Election
« Reply #20 on: April 29, 2009, 09:37:59 PM »
Now I'm hearing rumors (just rumors, I don't know for sure) that the city has been given some sum of money by the hospital and HUMC is now going to be buying the Sears building and property to build more hospital buildings.  There is also a rumor about building an EMT training center at Foschini Park. 

Can someone let me know if these rumors are true?  If they are, they are worrisome, and if they're not, I'd like to set the record straight
.

Okay, I have since learned some new information that answers my own questions, so I thought it only fair to share that.

The Sears building is, apparently, not for sale.  Even if it were for sale, that lot is not currently zoned for health services.  The council has said they have no intention of rezoning for it.

The next bit, the rumor about an EMT training center is a little less clear to me.

First, as many people already knew, they were discussing the property behind Johnson Park that was used as a shooting range.  They are considering rebuilding on that building site to create an emergency management training site and headquarters for responding to disasters.  As to the flood zone, the property would be built to endure a 100 year flood.

Apparently, because the federal and state government are encouraging municipalities to have command centers as part of their disaster planning, there may be some funds available to absorb some of that cost.

I'm undecided on what parts of this I agree and disagree with, but I'm very glad to have more accurate information.

Offline regina

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Re: 2009 Hackensack City Election
« Reply #21 on: April 29, 2009, 11:33:07 PM »
Hack72 - I'm not sure where you are getting your information. "Apparently, because the federal and state government are encouraging municipalities to have command centers as part of their disaster planning, there may be some funds available to absorb some of that cost."

According the the council (I was at the meeting last week), the estimated cost of this project is $1.2 million. Grant money anticipated $400,000 plus $575,000 from $1 million from HUMC. Since the $1.2 million is an ESTIMATE and since there is no definitive plan for the project, you can be sure that the cost is going to be more than that.

As far as municipal command centers, I've only heard of mobile command centers and most municipalities are consolidating services to save costs.

Offline DLabrosse

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Re: 2009 Hackensack City Election
« Reply #22 on: April 30, 2009, 07:19:06 AM »
I am posting this information for my husband, a candidate running in the city council election, because he has not received confirmation of a screen name on this site. He applied monts ago and as yet has not been approved.

1.  The Pension Holiday: Deferring the pensions is not in the interest of the citizens. This deferrment comes with 8 ½ % interest. The interest the first year alone will come to about $240,000. Add that to the interest for the remaining years and that pension deferral will cost almost double. Can’t for the life of me think of a reason why you think that is good for the taxpayers.

2.  The Emergency Training facility = unnecessary burden on the taxpayers. We already have a state of the art facility in Mahwah. Why burden the taxpayers with a duplicate of something we use for free. If you were at the last council meeting you would have heard our city leaders state they will still be using the facility in Mahwah. Yes we pay county taxes for that facility but we will continue to pay those taxes after this facility is built. We also will pay heating and air conditioning costs, maintenance, instructors, and of course added insurance.

3.  At the last council meeting, the city leaders claimed they are not sure what the emergency training building will be used for. They also stated the cost will be about 1.2 million.  Add it up. $1 million dollars was appropriated for this facility in 2006 and a bond for $950,000 of the $1M was sold in 2007. We have been paying interest on this bond since then.  As reported in the county seat, $575,000 of the $1M (from HUMC) is going towards this bldg. At the last council meeting $400,000 more was appropriated for this building. $950,000 plus $575,000 plus $400,000 comes to 1 million eight hundred seventy five thousand dollars.  So far! All for a building the city leaders said they are not sure of what the use will be. Do you really believe this is in the best interest of the residents??

4.  Don’t forget this building is in a flood zone and the City Manager stated they will raise the roads to get to the building. And, don’t forget there will be mandatory testing of the soil. If lead is found and the soil and needs to be remediated, the cost will skyrocket. Resident requests that the council hold off on this project until the soil testing was complete fell on deaf ears.

It would have been nice if the $575, 000 earmarked for the emergency training facility went to creating better recreation facilities for the children living in this city. If there is a true need for anothrer command post, why not utilize the Anderson Street property the city recently purchased or one of the many other properties the city owns?

Offline Editor

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Re: 2009 Hackensack City Election
« Reply #23 on: April 30, 2009, 09:01:16 AM »
Mrs. Labrosse: Welcome to the Hackensacknow Community Message Boards. Thank you for joining.

Your husband's screenname was not activated because I had activated another screenname for that same IP address.  As I mentioned here, multiple screennames are a no-no because they allow one person to anonymously post as multiple people.  And again, when he registered, he used an email address that did not identify who he is,- so I could not tell he was associated with your slate.

I'll review your post and may reply later. 
 


Offline Hack72

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Re: 2009 Hackensack City Election
« Reply #24 on: April 30, 2009, 09:25:45 AM »
peanut wrote:I'm not sure where you are getting your information. "Apparently, because the federal and state government are encouraging municipalities to have command centers as part of their disaster planning, there may be some funds available to absorb some of that cost."

According the the council (I was at the meeting last week), the estimated cost of this project is $1.2 million. Grant money anticipated $400,000 plus $575,000 from $1 million from HUMC. Since the $1.2 million is an ESTIMATE and since there is no definitive plan for the project, you can be sure that the cost is going to be more than that.


That doesn't conflict with what I said at all.   You talked about $400,000 in anticipated grant money.  I said, "there may be funds available to absorb some of that cost."

I'm not for or against this council.  I'm just trying to learn what each side plans and why they think it's beneficial.  When you pick apart what someone says and become argumentative, the point gets lost.

I felt it was in the interest of fairness that I share the information I'd learned, since I had posted questions about the current council's intentions and motivations.

Please don't let this site become like NJ.com - principles before personalities works best.

Offline regina

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Re: 2009 Hackensack City Election
« Reply #25 on: April 30, 2009, 10:32:14 AM »
I did not mean to pick apart your information. I just know that I heard the council say that they "estimate" the cost to be $1.2 million, but they don't have a firm plan for the project. I am not aware of any funding other than the $975,000 I mentioned ($400,000 is a county grant) and it is going to go quickly with plans, studies, etc.

I apologize if I came off too strong for you. I just don't believe we need this training center and I think the costs are going to be much more than the estimate. Also, I the council said that we would still be using the County training center after this is built - which makes no sense to me. It just doesn't seem like a good idea.

Offline regina

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Re: 2009 Hackensack City Election
« Reply #26 on: April 30, 2009, 10:48:10 AM »
I just read Mrs. Labrosse's post on the split board. I did not include the $950,000 bond in the funding because the council stated that it was not sold. I just double checked - it has been sold. So add that to the total approved for the training center. And add the fact that the council said it was NOT SOLD to why I have questions.

Offline just watching

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Re: 2009 Hackensack City Election
« Reply #27 on: May 03, 2009, 09:00:08 AM »
In response to "regina", the Citizens for Change candidate for Mayor takes great pride in stating on his political resume' that he is an active participant in the city's homeless effort, and one of his running mates is a social worker. Because of her employment, it is virtually certain what her position would be on the homeless.

I am very disturbed by the thought that homeless ADVOCATES would control city hall. I hope the homeless issue is what this election comes down to, for it to be literally a vote on whether or not homeless advocates should control city hall.  And I look forwards to a Record editorial or columnist commentary endorsing Citizens for Change, specifically for this reason. We all know what the Bergen Rag thinks about these issues, and they are probably re-evaluating their policy on not endorsing candidates in local municipal elections.

As I stated earlier, I was open to the idea of new faces on the council, but certainly not new faces that will take Hackensack in this direction.

I do want to make clear that I support the idea of government helping the homeless, and continue to advocate that the County do more for them at Bergen Regional Medical Center.  My position is about fairness ---when there are 20 or 30 communities in Bergen County that each have one permanent facility to serve the homeless, then it's high time for Hackensack to have more than one.  Actually we already have at least 5. In fairness, we're done for the next 100 years...let the rest of Bergen County do something for the homeless and other indigent segments of the County's population.   Until such social justice is secured on a County-wide level, the homeless programs in Hackensack need to be kept in check, and most certainly kept from expanding out of the downtown area.  The incumbant slate has the right perspective, I think they would generally agree with what I just said.

It might be a stretch to say that Citizens for Change would support converting the 3 houses on Summit Ave into homeless shelters, but if an applicant came in to open a social service operation on Summit Avenue, I bet they would be silent on it, and allow it to go through.

Let's not forget that another homeless organization still has plans to convert the Social Security building (Sussex Street across from Court Plaza) into another gigantic help-the-homless facility.  I'm sure that Citizens for Change will support that, or any other application to expand homeless facilities in Hackensack.

Offline regina

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Re: 2009 Hackensack City Election
« Reply #28 on: May 03, 2009, 09:52:42 PM »
just watching - Have you ever asked the Citizens for Change slate about their position? I do not believe this is a ONE issue election. There is so much more than that at stake. I hope you get first hand information from ALL of the candidates and make up your mind from there. And, nobody runs for mayor in our form of government. But, it would be nice to have ONE mayor for the next for years instead of the revolving chair. When they pass the baton something seems to get dropped (like the $1 mil in the developer's agreement).

Offline just watching

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Re: 2009 Hackensack City Election
« Reply #29 on: May 03, 2009, 10:54:15 PM »
Fair enough.  Information is always good for the democratic process.

I would like a spokesman from Citizens for Change to log into this website and post their official position on the expansion of homeless facilities in Hackensack.